Tennis-Clinical Swiatek cruises into US Open quarter-finals

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By Amy Tennery

NEW YORK (Reuters) -Iga Swiatek swept past Liudmila Samsonova 6-4 6-1 at Arthur Ashe Stadium to reach the quarter-finals at the U.S. Open on Monday as the top seed continued her flawless run through the Flushing Meadows draw.

Swiatek, the only former women’s champion still standing, has not dropped a set in New York and in her 100th Grand Slam match the 23-year-old lost only four points on her first serve.

Samsonova, the 16th seed, was gunning for her first Grand Slam quarter-final but never got into the match and failed to set up a single break point against the Pole.

Swiatek next faces American Jessica Pegula, whom she beat in the quarter-finals two years ago.

“She has a pretty tricky game style, so you have to really work on your legs and be ready for longer rallies, but also for some intense hitting,” said Swiatek of Pegula.

“It’s going to be a challenge.”

Samsonova defended two break points in the fourth game but could not hold off the clinical Swiatek, who applied pressure from the baseline to break the Russian to love in the 10th game.

Down 0-3 in the second set, Samsonova fought off three break points in the fourth game but then handed Swiatek the break with a double fault.

Swiatek closed it out on the second match point with some nimble play at the net before Samsonova sent a backhand out.

The French Open champion, who had skipped the Toronto tune-up event, said she felt she was finally hitting her stride in New York.

“At the beginning it wasn’t easy to get the rhythm, especially because we kind of put our focus more on recovery than actually, you know, practicing before the slams,” she said.

“I, for sure, am feeling better and better every day.”

(Reporting by Amy Tennery in New York, additional reporting by Rohith Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Peter Rutherford)